Cafe Confessions
by queenofsassandangst
Summary: Hermione is sick of dating. She's giving it one last shot before resorting to a lifetime of cats... One shot.


Dating was horrible.

Hermione had already come to _that_ horrifying conclusion months ago after a string of bad dates with wizards ("Can I get your autograph for my nephew? Yeh his name is James too!").

Since then she'd decided to try dating muggles instead, which had initially seemed a little better (no-one had asked her about having a threesome with Harry and Ron) until the whole thing became just one boring, lying affair after another. She'd sworn to Ginny that if this date didn't go well, then she'd swear off the whole relationship thing and adopt five more cats instead.

So, five minutes after the date was due to start, she was sat nervously running a hand through her hair every time the coffee shop door jingled.

Ten minutes past and she was chewing the inside of her gums.

She fended off sympathetic looks and a free pastry from a passing waitress when her date was apparently twenty minutes late.

And at thirty minutes after their scheduled date time, Hermione had decided upon the names of her future kittens.

And then, suddenly, as she browsed through the pet adoption website on her phone, a figure appeared over her. She hadn't even heard the door chime.

Hermione gazed upwards, hoping that her date - a muggle doctor named Sam - had an honest and heartfelt excuse to his lateness. But the man smirking down at her was none other than Draco Malfoy.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked, whilst sitting himself down anyway. Hermione gave him a withering glance back.

"Actually, Mr Malfoy, I am waiting for someone," she replied crossly. But he ignored her and picked up the menu, his eyes flickering over the different tea suggestions. Hermione leaned forwards and pulled the menu from his hands, throwing it crossly to the other side of the table. "What do you want Malfoy?" she almost growled.

"Temper, temper…" he winked, "Just came to see how your date was getting on…"

She rolled her eyes. _Of course he had._ She scolded herself in annoyance for not telling Ginny explicitly to keep the information to herself.

"Well, as you can see, it's going great!" she drawled, waving her arms in mock enthusiasm towards him.

He reached across the table to retrieve the tea menu, "Please Granger, if I wanted your brilliant sarcasm, I would have waited for work on Monday!"

Hermione and Draco and been working together now for two years in the law offices at the Ministry. At first, the atmosphere had been frosty to say the least. Yet, during a case against anti-muggle born laws, which Draco passionate debated (winning them the case in Hermione's opinion) their relationship had turned. Now, they had developed a strong friendship rooted in sarcasm, competitiveness and a joint desire to change the world for the better.

"Speaking of work…" Malfoy began, only to be interrupted by a waitress asking him which drink he'd like. Hermione frowned, had she been wearing lipstick when she'd taken _her _order? She certainly hadn't been batting her eyelashes like that….

"Yes?" she asked, once the waitress was out of sight.

"I've been offered a different job," he began. She assumed he stopped when her jaw became slack. After she had composed herself, he continued, "It's in dark artefacts and curses. See, they think I'd be particularly good at it considering my… um… background."

Hermione wasn't quite sure what the feeling was in her chest. Probably just shock, she told herself. After all, she'd been working with him for two years now. It would be strange not working beside him.

"Malfoy, you're an excellent lawyer, you'd do great in any field. So, are you going to take it?" she asked. He seemed to have become fixated on the small packets of muggle sugar on the table in front of him. "Draco?"

"Actually, Hermione, it depends on you…" he replied. She could see her face mirrored in his iris', the frown knitting her eyebrows together and the lip she was biting.

"What do you-"

"Hermione, we've been working together for a long time now and… I.. well I love working with you," the words spilling from his mouth, "That's not really true actually… I love _being_ with you. You make me a better person when I'm around you. And I've been wanting to ask this for a long time, but you know… we _work together_. But if I take this job… then I can ask. And I'm-"

"Malfoy," she reached forwards instinctively, linking her fingers through his own.

"Hermione, will you consider dating me?" he asked, quietly. His grey eyes watched her as the frown deepened for just a second before a smile tugged upon her lips.

"Yes, Draco."


End file.
